Opinion: Closing Guantanamo Bay Prison: Still on track?

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President Obama won plaudits in January when, during his first week in office, he signed an executive order mandating reports on how to close down the infamous U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba within a year.

Now, the White House has granted a six-month extension to the task force studying detention policy (where to put these 240 terrorist suspects) and a two-month extension to the team studying interrogation policy. The administration insists the delays are of no consequence, that it is making progress on placing the prisoners and still on track to shut down the prison next January. ‘We wanted to get this right,’ explained one West Wing official.

Liberal critics aren’t buying it.

“The Obama administration must not slip into the same legal swamp that engulfed the Bush administration with its failed Guantanamo policies,” said Anthony Romero, the ACLU’s executive director. “Any effort to revamp the failed Guantanamo military commissions or enact a law to give any president the power to hold individuals indefinitely and without charge or trial is sure to be challenged in court and it will take years before justice is served.”

-- Johanna Neuman

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